The Grace of Christ’s Gift

Ephesians 4 and the Gift of Grace in Christ

The Lord bless thee and shine upon you this morning. If you have a Bible, please open to Ephesians chapter 4, as we'll be reading from verses 1 to 10. And as soon as you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's word.

Hear ye this morning the word of the Lord. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness of patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?

He who descended is one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. You may be seated. Gracious Father in heaven, we're reminded of the gift that you've given us. Yea, Lord, even the gift of eternal life, by the salvation, by grace through faith in Jesus.

But we are also reminded of the gift that you've given us in Jesus, that Christ, our King, our Redeemer, is himself our prize. He is indeed the treasure and the possession of our hearts. Lord God, what a privilege it is to be here this morning amongst your people, in the presence of your spirit, and also, Lord, in true humility.

We are reminded of the greatest gift that you've given, even the gift of your own son, Jesus. And we focus now on the gift that he gives us as believers in Christ. We ask all these things in Christ's name, amen.

One Faith, One Lord, and the Calling of Christians

Oh, beloved, if you recall last week's message, we talked about the one faith, one Lord, the one baptism that we hold in common as Christians. I want to remind you as well of this precious, unchanging, unfading truth of God's sovereign love, as we just sung, his sovereign love towards you and me.

And when you love someone, you often accompany that love with gifts. We see when our Lord was born, there were those who brought gifts to the child, laid it at his feet, and worshiped him. We know that part of our worship is that we give unto God, not just of our time and our money and our resources, but we give all that we are to all that he is.

And in return, God, in his goodness, in his grace, in his abundance, in the overflowing of his character, he gives to us, his people, gifts for the advancement of his kingdom, for the edification of the body, and for the purposes of the kingdom of God to grow and expand in this dark and dying world.

And so, beloved, if you're following along in today's teaching and the answer that was given to you, grace was given to us by measure. I want you to notice what it says in verse seven. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift, to the measure of Christ's gift.

So grace was given to us by means of the measure of Christ's gift, and God gives us gifts in order to fulfill our Christian calling. Notice again what it says in Ephesians 4, verse one. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, Paul speaking, says I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

There's a calling. There's a calling to which every single Christian has been called to. It's a calling to spiritual life, spiritual discipline, holiness, righteousness, living otherworldly. Notice the way that the world lives, what the world celebrates, what the world elevates.

We as Christians elevate a different thing, a different ethnic, a different kingdom, a different message, and ours is a calling that is an upward call in Christ Jesus. We have a hope that this world that we live in is not our final home.

Now, you've probably heard the phrase before, earth is not my home, I'm just passing through. Well, I like a different phrase, and it's that earth actually is our home, but as the earth is, it will not always be.

God will change this world. He'll bring forth the fullness of his kingdom. Christ will rule over all, and there'll be a new heavens and new earth. That's the eschatological expectation that we have as Christians, that God will, when all things are said and done, the words that will usher from the throne of God is I will make all things new.

That is the cry that we all long to hear when this old wicked world is no more and Christ is king. But in the meantime, how do we get to that state? I would say to you this morning that one of the means by which God accomplishes this new heavens and new earth is by means of the instrument of his church, which is you, living stones, members of the body. of Christ.

And he has called you to this new calling. In order for us to fulfill his purpose, to fulfill the calling to which he has called us, he is going to equip us with gifts, spiritual gifts, powerful gifts, that enable us to fulfill the calling to which he has called us upward in Christ Jesus.

In the previous verse, we were admonished again to guard the unity of the faith. That's what we saw in last week's message when Paul tells us there's one faith, one Lord, one baptism. He's guarding the faith.

He's saying that we must recognize there's only one true Jesus, one true saving faith, and one baptism by which we enter into membership into the body of Christ. We see in verse seven, it is revealed how we can build toward this unity.

And it is through the grace that Christ provides. He has given grace. Now, what does the word grace mean? As we know, we've been going through the book of Ephesians. Chapter two relies heavily on the concept of grace, for by grace you've been saved.

We're introduced to that phenomenal statement of salvation. But grace is undeserved, unmerited favor. It means when you could not meet the conditions, God richly blessed you and supplied you with the outcome of obedience as if you were perfect, as if you deserved it.

He treats you as one who is deserving, although you are not deserving. It says in Ephesians chapter two, verse one, that we were all dead in our trespasses and sins, that we were all totally lost in the ways that we used to walk according to the principles of the power of the air.

But God, being rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ. While you were unworthy, Romans five puts it this way, while you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. Not when you were perfect, not when you had it all figured out, not when you had the right doctrine or you had the right confession.

While you were yet sinners, totally lost, Christ died for you. And he saves us. He saves us unto a holy calling, to a mission, to a missional life. Church, I wanna tell you this morning that Christianity is not a sidelined religion.

What do I mean by that? Oh, just this past week, we had a fancy basketball game. Some of you guys may like basketball. And who won that NBA finals game? Who won it? Warriors, all right, that's our team, right?

Hey, go Warriors, right? Now, what happens is that every time your home team wins, everyone starts jumping up and down and you start to say to each other and you exclaim to each other saying, we won. We?

You weren't on that basketball court. I didn't see you dunking on any of those boys. I didn't see you throw any three-pointers from the line. You weren't a part of the game. You didn't put any effort towards winning that championship.

Maybe you bought a ticket, maybe you watched at home or maybe you were cheap and you watched it at a bar somewhere. We don't know. But the point is, is that you were not there. You were on the sidelines.

Church, we're not called to the sidelines. We're called to engage in the court, in the court of life, the court of this world. And we are to contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered onto the saints, amen?

That's our call. That's what we've been called to. Ours is not a sideline religion where we simply just observe what is going on or we're not a sideline religion in that we only listen and participate as so far as the preacher's preaching in the pulpit and then we live the rest of our week as if we were practical atheists.

That's not our faith. Christ has given us grace and a gift of grace for you to live differently, for you to not be on the sidelines but to be on the court of life, for you not to be one who is simply an observer but one who is a participant in the life and the glories and the sufferings of Christ.

That is the call to which Christ is now gifting you life and power from on high to live differently. Now, it's not easy in this world to live as a Christian, especially here in Silicon Valley. There are so many temptations.

The greatest temptations being one of the things that I hold in my hand right now is technology. Technology is the center of our culture here in Silicon Valley. You know what else is the center of the culture here?

Starts with the letter M and ends with the letter E and it's me, me. I'm the center, I'm the center. It's all about me, how I feel, what I want, what career path I choose, how much money I can make, what car I drive, what house I own, what I can buy with all of my riches and my status.

It's about me. That's what this culture glorifies. It's the worship of self. It's the idolatry of one's own image while we were called as creatures who were made in God's image to image Christ and not ourselves.

One of the temptations out there in the culture today as well based upon the deception of self-worship is to fulfill and gratify the desires of our own flesh by means of various and different manners and ways, whether it be through pornography, whether it be through addictions such as alcoholism, such as drug use.

Maybe it's just there's certain scenes out there in this world and specifically in this area of the country that you may be susceptible to. Brothers and sisters, know this, that God has given you a measure of Christ's gift in order to live differently.

Given you power, power. Notice what the Lord Jesus says in Acts 1, verse 8. He says, you will receive power from on high when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Why is it so important that we live differently? Why is it so important that we receive this measure of Christ's gift in order to live this holy calling? It's because you were called to be a witness of another, to represent someone, to be a representative of heaven itself, a representative of King Jesus.

What an incredible calling. What an incredible gift he has given us so that we may be called witnesses of Christ. Incredible. If you were called to be a witness or to be a representative of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, maybe the United States government, you'd find that a huge honor and that would likely change the way that you act, change the way that you speak because now you have a public image.

You're not just representing yourself, you're representing this company or this nation. Similarly, friends, we have to remember who it is that we represent. Or as I put it last week, remember who you're walking with.

Remember who you're walking with. Don't get caught with your pants down when you're walking with the king. Don't get caught walking in a way that doesn't glorify God when you're walking with the king because you belong to him.

You've been called to a new and a newness of life. So friends, remember this. We understand that he has given grace. This is not necessarily in the text of salvific grace but an undeserved kindness or favor in the form of Christ's gift to us.

Now the text doesn't reveal to us any specificity of the gift other than we've received it in measure, likely pointing to individuals receiving a spiritual portion that is necessary to the building up and the maintaining of the unity of the faith.

You see, the great heritage of the faith of all Christians that we all share and have in common, and having this in common, we are responsible to guard the unity of the spirit and we do so by the gift that God provides in Christ.

But they may not expect, however, you may not expect your personality, your gifts, or your tasks to all be the same as Christians. There's a diversity in the gift that God gives his people. For instance, John Calvin puts it this way.

He says, no member of the body of Christ is endowed with such perfection as to be able without the assistance of others to supply his own necessity. So what he is saying, what John Calvin is saying is this.

You can't do it all. And you can't do it by yourself. Part of being called by Christ is you're also being called into Christian community. And in the Christian community, in the church of the living God, you'll find a variety of gifts.

You'll find a variety of specialties and giftings and strengths that will complement you in your weakness. This is why, as Christians, we have to remember what we've been called into, and it's a lifestyle of discipleship.

What is discipleship? Discipleship, essentially, is this. That you walk alongside other brothers and sisters who make up for your spiritual weakness. And you learn from them. You walk with them. You grow with them.

You do life together. And that's what's so beautiful about the Christian church. It's not just a service you come to. You sit down, sing a few hymns, go home. But instead, that we are intent on living out authentically our Christian life, our Christian worship, not only Sunday to Sunday, but day to day in the context of Christian fellowship and believers.

This is discipleship. And this is what Calvin is also demonstrating in the quote that I just read. That we need each other. We need each other more than you think, more than you even possibly realize.

When you're down, when you're struggling, when temptation comes knocking, who should you call? It should be the brothers and sisters. It should be the pastors. It should be those whom you know love you dearly in the body of Christ.

That you're not alone in your suffering and your struggles. And we don't go to God's people with a shame and say, hey, I'm struggling with this. And then you have this fearful expectation of judgment.

But instead, knowing that you're gonna be embraced, you're gonna be loved, you're gonna be supported, and you're gonna grow ultimately in holiness. Because when we do life together, we're stronger together.

And we grow into holiness together. That's the beauty of Christianity, of church, of being part of the body of Christ. This measure that Christ offers and gives to his people. To each of us is given different gifts for the benefit of all.

Paul uses the word grace here in the sense in which we find it in chapter three, verse two, and chapter three, verse seven and eight. It's the privilege of a special calling in the service of God. The word implies that there's no place for boasting.

The word grace means that it's all God, not you. And there's no room for boasting in grace because there's nothing that originates from you. It all originates outside of you, into you, for you, and for those around you.

And that's the power and the grace of Christ. None has anything other than what he has received unmerited favor, unmerited grace. In chapter four and verse eight, Paul writes the following. He says, therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host captives and he gave gifts to men.

Christ the Greater David and the Meaning of Psalm 68

What an interesting text. I did a lot of studying on this, a lot of research on this topic. And I wanna share with you some interesting things that I found. If you're following along in the insert in today's teaching, Paul quotes from the Psalms.

He's quoting from the book of Psalms. Specifically Psalm chapter 68. And if you can, please turn to Psalm 68 and keep a finger in Ephesians as we're gonna be going back and forth just a couple times so we can get a greater understanding of what it is Paul's saying, what the Psalmist was saying in this context in Psalm 68.

And let's look at verse 18. Says in Psalm 68, verse 18, you ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious of the Lord God may dwell there.

Notice the difference from Psalm 68, verse 18 and how Paul quotes it and attributes it in Ephesians chapter four. Well, first, let me break this down. In Psalm 68, it's a victory hymn composed by David to celebrate God's conquest of the Jebusite city and the triumphant ascent of God onto Zion represented in the Ark of the Covenant.

If you recall the story in scripture in 2 Samuel where David conquers the holy hill, the Jebusite city and now he's bringing forward the tribute to the Lord. He's bringing forward the Ark of the Covenant and he's making a procession to the holy hill, to the holy mountain.

This is in Psalm 68 is representative of this event. If you're following along in the teaching, Paul quotes from the Psalms where David ascends and receives gifts from men. Notice again what verse 18 says, you ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men.

It was common in ancient times when a king would conquer a city and there'd be a victorious procession and part of that victorious procession is that people would lay down gifts, lay down peace offerings to the newly enthroned king or the conquering king.

And Psalm 68 gives us this imagery. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, even the enemies of God, even those who are not sold on the kingship of David.

They themselves are laying down alms and giving homage to the king that the Lord God may dwell there. The Lord God dwelling there. This is a very, a verse that gives us a connotation of Zion, of God's dwelling place, of God's habitation amongst his people.

Again, the context of Psalm 68 is a victory hymn composed by David as he ascends the holy hill and God is ascending with him, represented by the Ark of the Covenant. The context again is that Psalm is David's victory and God's ascent over the mountains of Bashan.

Now, I want you to look at, if you're still in Psalm 68, look at what it says in verse 15. O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan, O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan, why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode?

Yes, where the Lord will dwell forever. The chariots of God are twice, 10 ,000, thousands upon thousands, and the Lord is among them. Sinai is now in the sanctuary. There's a mountain there that you, it may just go right over your head, but it's the mountain of Bashan.

Now, why is that significant? Why does the psalmist bring it up? What does it, how does it correlate to Ephesians chapter four? Well, brethren, the mountains of Bashan was a place just north of the holy city, closer to the boundaries of Syria.

And the mountains of Bashan have a spiritual implication. It was fairly close to Mount Hermon, which is another mountain in the Old Testament that has spiritual military implications. But one of the things about the mountains of Bashan is there was always conflict on this hill.

Who controlled the hill? Because who controlled this hill had a lot of geopolitical implications in the times of Israel, even actually till this very day, it has implications for military control and power in Israel.

But no less different, even back in ancient times, there was a lot of conflict over who would control this hill. Now, in the ancients, before the conquest of the land, the mountain of Bashan was a place in which the Rephaim dwelled.

Now, if you know what that Hebrew word Rephaim means, it means the giants. In the scriptures, we are confronted with stories of giants in the land, and mountain Bashan was one of the places where the giants dwelled.

And we see that when God says in verse 15 of Psalm 68, "'O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan,' he is claiming it as his own. He's saying this mountain, which was at some points ruled by the Syrian forces, others by the Assyrian forces, other times by other Gentile powers, but God claims this as his own.

And he says, this mountain is my mountain. He does, in verse 17, he claims that Sinai, another mountain, which is in Arabia, that mountain is also his, and it's his sanctuary. But then in verse 18, there's an ascension on high, and he's giving us a connotation of Zion, that even Zion, all the mountains, all the peaks, all the nations are his.

It all belongs to him. That's the implication. And why then does Paul quote from this text? What's he trying to get at? What's he trying to invoke in us? One final point on the context of the psalmist is that the ascent that we see in verse 18 to Zion demonstrates God's supremacy over his enemies, and the authority vested in God's anointed one, David.

The reason why there's this declaration of the mountain of Bashan being his is because God is demonstrating his supremacy over the nations, over the false gods, over the giants. He's demonstrating his power over them, and the one specifically, even in his anointed one, in this case, in Psalm 60, it's David.

David is his anointed instrument to display his supremacy as the true king of kings. And the king upon his ascent leads the captives as a show of victory and receives gifts from men, even the rebellious, as a show of Yahweh's lordship and presence on his holy hill, even Zion.

Now back in Ephesians chapter four, Paul says in verse eight, again, therefore it says, quoting from the Old Testament, Psalm 68, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.

In the first instance, in Psalm 68, it's the people who give gifts to the king, but in this instance, it is the king who gives gifts to men. What an interesting change. I want you to write this down if you're following along in the insert.

Jesus gives gifts to men, and he does so as he's operating as the greater David. I want you to write that in there. He is the greater David. Jesus gives gifts to men as the greater David for the unity of the faith.

Now we must note, however, an important change in the words that are used between the psalmist and between how Paul quotes the psalmist. In the Hebrew, the psalm has words which speak of God receiving gifts or the king receiving gifts among men, but Paul says he gave gifts to men.

Obviously, the subject now being Christ himself, being the one who is being recognized as the one giving gifts to men, as the one who has ascended on high to lead a host of captives. Jesus is doing so because he is the greater David.

Now, when you look at the story in 2 Samuel, I want you to turn there if you can, to 2 Samuel. We see the context in 2 Samuel chapter six of what the psalmist recorded in Psalm 68, where you have the ascent of the king, and the king is heading to Zion.

And notice what it says, though. I was expecting to, when I read this account, to read something other than I read. And it says in 2 Samuel chapter six, and we'll look at verse 17 through 19, it says, and they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it.

And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts and distributed among all people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one.

Then all the people departed each to his house. You see, based upon the reading from Psalm 68, I would expect that people would be gifting David. But in 2 Samuel, we see that it is David, indeed, gifting his people in this victory.

This victory that David had over the Jebusites, he is not only demonstrating that he's the victorious one, but he's sharing in his victory with his people, which is what Christ has done with us. Christ is the one who has ascended over sin and death.

He's ascended over Hades, over hell itself, and he shares in his victory and the spoils of war by gifting you and I, just as King David gifts the Israelites in 2 Samuel 6. So even Christ, the greater David, gives his people not just cakes of raisin or a portion of meat, but he gifts us with spiritual power from on high to live out the holy calling to which you have been called.

Amen? Praise God. Back in our main text in Ephesians chapter four. Hopefully it is seen clearly why Jesus gives gifts to men. He's the greater David. But now it says in verse nine, I wanna just put this out there, there's some theologically hard things in here that we have to contend with.

Verse nine says, and saying he ascended, so now Paul is taking the verse in Psalm 68, he's giving us an exposition of the text. He says, in saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?

So now we are getting into the territory of Christ, what seems to be his death, burial, and resurrection. He is pointing by means of the psalmist that if he ascended, there's a connotation that he must have also descended, and where did he descend to?

Well, the scriptures give us the answer to where he descended. Again, I know I'm making you go back and forth through God's word, but I want you, if you can, turn to Acts chapter two so that we can see the fuller picture of what it is that Paul is attempting to teach us by means of the inspired word.

In Acts chapter two, we see the apostle Peter preaching this important message of Pentecost, and he says in verse 29 of Acts two, he says, brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, so we've mentioned David, David is the subject of the Psalms in Psalm 68, he's the king who ascends, but notice what Peter says about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

Verse 30, but being therefore a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, notice the language, both Christ and David descended, both were in Hades, both were buried and their tombs were there publicly. David's tomb could have been visited in the days of this writing.

Both men descended, but notice only one ascends. Verse 34 again says, for David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

There is one greater than David, one whom David calls Lord in Psalm 110. In verse 36, Peter concludes this thought saying, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, Christ, both Lord and Christ, Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.

The language that Peter is using and that Paul is also using in Ephesians chapter four is to demonstrate the supremacy, Lordship, grandeur of Christ and that not only is he the one who descended, but he is also ascended and because of his ascension and his resurrection power, he's able to give us all that we need for life and godliness.

Isn't Jesus marvelous? Isn't he the greater David, the greater Moses to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess unto the Lordship and glory of God the Father? This Jesus is incredible. And it's the Jesus who ascended over all things, including death.

So I want you to write this if you haven't already. Christ descended at his death to Hades. We see that in what's implicit in the text in Ephesians four and what's explicit in Acts chapter two, verses 28 through 36.

Christ Ascended Far Above All Things

But now Paul puts a nice bow on this idea. He puts a wonderful exclamation mark at the end of all these things in verse 10 of Ephesians four in our main text. And it says, he who descended is the one who has also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

Christ is ascended. Think of what that means, the implications for that statement. David himself, as glorious, as important as he is in redemptive history, he is not ascended. Moses, as great and important as he is, is not ascended.

You, as important as you think you are, are not ascended. Christ is ascended. He is above all things. And the Bible says about this Jesus that in him, all things hold together, consist, are, have being, have movement, have life and breath, all because of the sovereign lordship of King Jesus.

This Jesus is above all things. Write that in there in the last bullet point. Christ is now ascended far above all things. This is a statement, an absolute statement. Sovereignty, authority and power.

Know this, beloved, that if you are in him today, who has ascended above all rulers, authorities, powers and principalities, if you have come to know him by which all things will be subjected to the power of his own will, if you've come to know him who is indeed the first and the last, the alpha and the omega, the first fruit of the resurrection, that nothing in this life, nothing in your personal struggle will be greater or more powerful to overcome the ascended one, even Jesus Christ our Lord.

That's good news. That's fantastic news. That your struggles, your finances, your marriage, your problems, your successes are all under the ascension of the ascended one, Jesus Christ. Knowing this, we ought to have confidence.

Confidence that we have received indeed the grace of Christ's gift to you and to me. That if he is for us, who can be against us? And that's not to say, like maybe some of the prosperity preachers, that that can be meant to take, you can take that to mean that nothing can be difficult in life because of that.

That God would just make life smooth and easy. That if God is for us, that means no one can be against us. No, that's not what it's saying. Everything can be against you. The powers of heaven and earth can be opposed to you.

Yet, what are they in comparison to Christ? If Christ is for you, if God is for you, so what if the world is against you? So what if Google's against you? So what if the culture's against you? So what if everything in your life seems to be crumbling?

If Jesus is Lord, you have all that you need in him. He is truly all sufficient. There is no need that he cannot satisfy. There is no thing that Christ cannot overcome. Jesus Christ is Lord and he's Lord over all.

That's the last word I want you to write in there. Christ is now ascended far above all things that he might be Lord over all. The supremacy and the Lordship of Jesus Christ ought to be a comfort to you.

Similarly, as Charles Spurgeon said about the sovereignty of God being the pillow on which every believer should lay his head, so ought to be the grandeur and the supremacy and Lordship of Jesus Christ.

That Jesus Christ is indeed sufficient and that when you are going through the trials of life as the Apostle Paul did many times in his short life here, in which he could say confidently and receive that revelation from the Lord that his grace was indeed what?

Sufficient. It's enough. It's enough. I want you to examine yourself this morning before we come to this table. Every Sunday we come and we examine ourselves and we come before the Lord humbly and we partake of the Lord's supper, the Lord's table, but I want you to examine yourself for a moment.